Useful Costa Rica Travel Websites
September 11th, 2007 Posted in Cheap Latin America Travel, Destination reports
Continuing this blog’s series of rundowns on useful websites that give you solid info, this entry runs down some good ones in Costa Rica. I just wrote a story loosely about Costa Rica adventure travel in the most recent Perceptive Travel, so it’s top of mind.
Granted, Costa Rica isn’t one of The World’s Cheapest Destinations, but it’s relatively inexpensive to get to from the U.S. and Canada and in general you get a decent value for your money as a vacationer. (As a backpacker, it’s a tough place to visit on a budget and you’re better off going pretty much anywhere else in Central America except Belize).
The official site of the Costa Rica Tourism Board is www.visitcostarica.com.
The Tico Times is the very good local English-language newspaper.
Inside Costa Rica is another good online news source.
MyCostaRicanGuide.com has lots of fun facts, useful links, and other resources.
InfoCostaRica is run by a tour agency but has plenty of worthwhile info.
Fortuna Welcome, run by a tour agency, has good background and useful hotel links for the Fortuna and Arenal Volcano region.
MAQBeach has info for the Manuel Antonio and Quepos area.
The Costa Rica section of Boomers Abroad stuffs more than 100 useful links on one page.
The Costa Rican Hotel Association site has listings with detailed information and maps for more than 250 member hotels throughout the country.
Monteverde Info has been covering the Monteverde Cloud Forest area well since 1998.
If you have plenty of money to blow (or someone is springing for your honeymoon), here are reviews of the best hotels in Costa Rica.
This is not a comprehensive list by any means, of course, but a good starting point. There are hundreds of Costa Rica tourism sites out there there are really just collections of ads with a little bit of content wedged in. Follow the above and branch out from there to avoid some of the worst offenders.
Have a suggestion for a worthwhile Costa Rica travel site? Post it in the comments.
3 Responses to “Useful Costa Rica Travel Websites”
By Johnson on Sep 13, 2007
This was really helpful. I am planning a trip there right now and have been coming across lots of useless drek out there. Most are tour company sites that only appear to have good info, but aren’t after you’ve wasted five minutes clicking through.
By tim on Sep 13, 2007
Thanks Johnson. This rundown is from Traveler’s Took Kit: Mexico and Central America, a book that will be out in late January. I co-wrote it with Rob Sangster. If you go back to that region again, look for it in your local bookstore!
By Catherine on Mar 23, 2008
You may want to check out James D. Brausch’s Costa Rica HQ, a guide for those wishing to visit or live in Costa Rica.
In one of his entries, James highly recommends Finca Mequengue Falls near Limon on the Carribean coast. To view some photographs, go to CostaRicaHq.org/Maquengue
Among the places James also mentions are Tabacon, Xandari and Costa Rican National Parks like the Arenal Volcano and the Chirripo National Parks. To get first hand information on these wonderful places and other bits and pieces about Costa Rica, visit James’ CostaRicaHQ.org.